Earlier this year, Champ sent a pre-publication copy to me and asked for my feedback. In short, I think it's terrific! Here is my endorsement "blurb" review:

In Pass it On,
Champ Thornton has
created another unique resource for assisting Christian parents
to extract the
precious wisdom from the endless goldmine of the Book of
Proverbs and impart
its righteous riches to their children. I will be using it with
my kids and
urge others to dig in, too.

Weaknesses

I'm not a big fan of the title of Champ's book. If you grew up in the era and wing of the church I did, those three little words always spark a camp song in your head. {If it's now in your head, you're welcome.} But it is an appropriate title for the purpose of the book. Champ takes each chapter of the Book of Proverbs, provides as short "guided tour" and then gets you writing your own reflections, prayers, and applications down in the blanks provided to pass on to your younger loved-ones.

When I read the pre-pub version, my one critique was really about how many of today's readers won't find it easy to do the thinking required in processing the Proverbs and writing out their own reflections, especially if they were trying to do it at the pace of a chapter-per-day. But that's not really a weakness of Champ's book--it's our weakness as readers who want to be spoon-fed our spiritual food. Champ has run the roto-tiller and turned over the heavy first layer. It's now up to us to get to digging for the treasures. And nothing dictates the pace of a reader working through it. I plan to take a year or so (not a month) to do it with my boys.

Strengths

For the last decade, I have been teaching a class on Proverbs to the teen boys in our church on Wednesday nights. Champ's introduction "A Bird's eye View of Proverbs" distills everything I've been trying to the teach the boys into 16 excellent pages. It's worth the proverbial price of the book. Champ teaches us what Proverbs is, how to read it for ourselves, and how to get the most out of it. Then he walks us through each chapter, one at a time, giving us clues for how to extract the treasure hidden therein.

The appendices are excellent: endnotes, suggestions for further study, and topical index. These things are all more valuable than you might initially guess.

I'm really impressed with the time and money that New Growth Press has put into producing this volume. It has an attractive imitation leather cover which will make it durable as a gift to give now and last for a long time.

In short, it would be wise to buy at least one copy of Pass It On, and to do what the title says.

Win Your Own Copy

Starting today, I'm offering a contest to win a copy of Pass It On. The good folks at New Growth Press will send a copy to the winner picked at random.

Entering this contest is very simple:

1. Leave a comment on this post (either here or on Facebook) with your name on it.

2. Wait to see if you win. I'll be drawing the names out of a hat. It's that easy! (Don't forget to check back or subscribe to updates to find out if you win--I'll need your mailing address if you do.)

You can also increase your chances of winning by posting about this contest on your social media page (FB, Twitter, Blog, Pinterest, etc.). Just send me an email or leave a comment with the link so that I know that you've expanded the reach of the contest. For each time you link to the contest, you get your name added to the hat one more time (limit of 7 chances, the contest ends at 11:59pm EST on Thursday night, November 2nd).

Pages

About Me

I'm the happy husband of Heather (a Proverbs 31 mega-woman!), the glad father of the Fab Four (Robin, Andrew, Peter, and Isaac), the joyful pastor of Lanse Evangelical Free Church, a district leader in the awesome Allegheny District of the EFCA, book review coordinator of EFCA Today, and the author of a book on Resisting Gossip (CLC Publications, September 2013).

Disclaimers

Content:

Unless otherwise noted, the opinions expressed on Hot Orthodoxy are my own and not that of Lanse Free Church or anyone else. I am accountable to the elders and congregation of LEFC, but they don't necessarily agree with every single thing I think (and that's a healthy thing). I always say, "I have a million opinions, and they are free to the public!"

Book Reviews:

Many of the books reviewed on Hot Orthodoxy have been given to me by publishers and authors. I've never been asked to produce a favorable review in exchange for the book, and if they did, I wouldn't publish a review.